Episode 1549 (23 December 1997)
Synopsis Irene and Terry are in bed and have to stay there as the rest of the family are up and about so they can't risk Terry being seen creeping out of Irene's room. Downstairs, Tony marvels at the fact that Terry has already tidied up his bedding from the sofa. Later, Terry buys a present for Irene - two love birds which he leaves in a cardboard box on the sofa. Tony tells Irene that Polly will be there for Christmas, and he will sleep on the floor while she has his bed. When Irene next sees Simon she tells him that if he's thinking of visiting his father over Christmas, he should be aware that they will have Polly staying with them. Simon asks if she has moved in and Irene says maliciously "Well, it looks like it." With a sudden and most uncharacteristic religious urge Peggy tells the entire family that they have to go to Midnight Mass. Phil and Grant find it rather strange and ask if they're suddenly the Partridge family or what, and Phil comments, more like the Addams family. Grant asks Tiffany "What do you think, Morticia?" Peggy also insists that the Vic will be open on Boxing Day for a big party. Aunt Sal takes Courtney off for a walk, unaware the world has moved on since her youth, and she leaves the pram unattended outside the shop when she goes in to buy something. When she comes out, it's gone. She screams and gets all the market traders to search for the baby. Tiffany is told and can't believe she was stupid enough to leave a baby alone and unwatched on the streets in London. Then, Bianca comes round the corner pushing the pram, and everyone descends on her and Aunt Sal accuses her of stealing Tiffany's baby, and everyone looks at her suspiciously, knowing she's just got rid of her own baby. She protests that she just took Courtney for a walk since she was crying and no-one else was looking after her. Tiffany says that Sal is never to be let near the baby again as she is far too irresponsible to look after her after leaving her alone in the street. Tiffany is still annoyed at Grant not asking her about anything, and decides to cheer herself up by organising her own family around her at Christmas, so she invites her father for Christmas dinner. Irene answers and tells her that he's already busy there, without even telling him. Irene also asks Peggy if she has any work for Terry, and Peggy says yes, he can collect glasses over the Christmas period. She later tells Terry that Peggy wanted to talk to him, and pretends she has no idea what it's about. Tiffany also invites Bianca and Ricky over without asking Grant, and has to include Frank, because he is staying with them. Mark tells Pauline that Mary has asked Ian and she's got to be there for Christmas Day, so perhaps they could all go round to Ian's if she can't come to them. Pauline agrees, except Nigel and Dot are also invited to hers. Mark asks Ian, who is amenable to the idea and says why not, invite everyone. Mary is thrilled to hear this and hugs Ian. Nigel gets a visit from Dot, and has to invite her to stay. The old bags all bimble around the square for Christmas Eve - Nelly and Ethel appear for Ethel to look at how nice the Christmas "recreations" are this year. Elsewhere on the market, Michael's son Matthew is looking after Winston's stall, and buys a large number of flashing angels to give away as free gifts with purchases of £10. He says they've been hugely successful, and almost everyone seems to have one at the top of their tree. Michael has other problems, moving on a cracker salesman, although not before he's sold the expensive-looking crackers at a knock-down price to most families in the square. Simon sees Tony and confronts him about Polly. They end up at Tony's house and argue about Tony and Polly and Simon and Chris, ending up with Simon pushing Tony, who falls over and sits on the love birds' box, one of which gets squashed and killed. Pat spends Christmas Eve night in hospital, waiting for Roy to wake up. Kathy tells Ian about Roy, and Ian says "Pity it wasn't Cindy." The Vic is busy on Christmas Eve and two blonde bimbos chat up Grant as he's serving. Later, Grant discovers that Tiffany has invited her friends to Christmas Day and he gets angry, telling her she should have consulted him first. She says she thought she was part of the family and why shouldn't she since everyone else has invited who they want? Grant tells her she's not behaving like his wife, and storms off. He happens to see the two bimbos in the square and he invites them back to the Vic for a nightcap. Tiffany looks out of the window as he has one on each arm and escorts them in. He looks at her smugly. At Midnight Mass Phil says to Peggy he didn't know she had asked Kathy to come too, and she says she didn't. Kathy chats to Alex afterwards and he walks her home and she invites him in for coffee. He says he doesn't think that would be a good idea, and they have an embarrassing exchange trying to explain that they didn't mean it like that... etc. Phil watches the proceedings from across the square. Credits Main cast *Martine McCutcheon as Tiffany *Ross Kemp as Grant *Steve McFadden as Phil *Tony Caunter as Roy *Pam St. Clement as Pat *Mike Reid as Frank *Mark Homer as Tony *Victoria Gould as Polly *Roberta Taylor as Irene *Gavin Richards as Terry *Gillian Taylforth as Kathy *Richard Driscoll as Alex *Daniela Denby-Ashe as Sarah *Leslie Schofield as Jeff *Barbara Windsor as Peggy *Paul Moriarty as George *Nadia Sawalha as Annie *Andrew Lynford as Simon *Todd Carty as Mark *Wendy Richard as Pauline *Sean Gleeson as Conor *James Alexandrou as Martin *Adam Woodyatt as Ian *Melanie Clark Pullen as Mary *Michelle Collins as Cindy *Dominic Taylor as Nick *Paul Bradley as Nigel *June Brown as Dot *Gemma Bissix as Clare *Jon Lee as Josh *Russell Floyd as Michael *Tilly Vosburgh as Susan *Joe Absolom as Matthew *Shaun Williamson as Barry *Anna Karen as Aunt Sal *Gretchen Franklin as Ethel *Elizabeth Kelly as Nellie *Tommy Eytle as Jules *Patsy Palmer as Bianca *Sid Owen as Ricky *Deepak Verma as Sanjay *Jamila Massey as Neelam *Natalie Cassidy as Sonia *Dean Gaffney as Robbie *Richard Elis as Huw *Desune Coleman as Lenny *Sylvester Williams as Mick *Chelsey Paden as Jessie *Stuart Stevens as Steven *Terry John as Crackerman *Natalie Poyser as Nurse *Sally Chattaway as Carla *Rebecca Walker as Deena Category:Episode Category:1997 Episodes Category:Episodes outside of broadcast patterns